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Bands in commericals: pretty damn disturbing isn't it? And it seems as if almost any band who gets approached will do it. Really makes you doubt the integrity of your favorite bands, at least for me.

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i dunno...i don't think it's too bad if it's just background music...and it's not just some big hit song...especially if it's an instrumental anyway...and it's not like they're in a commercial going "ugh! buy suum fockin' pants, ye nancys!" though it would be really funny to see Mogwai in a Levis commercial...

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I think that's why they call it a Business.....you are in it to make money.

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Well, if making money is the only reason to be a musician, I don't think I want to be one.

Music hasn't always been a business, and for some people, it still isn't. Not every band is it in for the money.

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ethangrim.livejournal.com

Sorry about practice. Jacques mentioned it Sunday as a possibility but it totally slipped my mind, with the moving of stuff and all. I'll be back and forth between the house and the storage place most of the afternoon if you want to swing by.

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ethangrim.livejournal.com

Worse incidents of a song being poorly used for a commercial have to be Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" for Pringles (with the Pringles face thing singing along) and the infamous Levi's ad with the Dead Kennedys' "Holiday In Cambodia".
I would be all for writing a song about getting way too drunk and starting trouble and getting sick, then selling the rights to Guinness for possible sponsorship...

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i-am-in-here.livejournal.com

Which commercial is it? The TVs at work don't have sound.

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ex-albee437.livejournal.com

I'm curious to understand how this form of whoring one's music out is a strike against integrity. I could see it if Mogwai on the screen, personally selling the jeans but providing music? In some cases I enjoy seeing it work against the product (i.e. The Walkmen's "We've Been Had" selling the Saturn Ion--how fitting!).

Suppose someone sees the commercial, caring fuck all for the jeans but likes the song enough to find out who the artist is and buying their cd? A converted Mogwai fan. How can that be bad?

Music and musicians themselves, making art to fulfill their sincere artistic integrity. It's a nice idea, but how to afford the instruments? *sigh* I guess we'll have to sell the horses, Mabel...

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ex-albee437.livejournal.com

The worst commercials are the ones that have crappy jingle that some arsehole in Hollywood made up. I mean, come on, "Zoom zoom zoom, yeah zoom zoom zoom zoom" What the hell is that? At least Mogwai's enjoyable.

As for DK's music in commercials--that's bizarre because it goes against everything Biafra preaches. Then again, aren't Biafra and those guys STILL in court battling over who owns the songs?

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I have been a musician since the age of five, and I don't ever plan to make a living doing it. I do it for fun, and I never suggested that money is the only reason to be a musician. However, those people who do chose to make their living by being musicians/actors/artists/whatever are in SHOW BUSINESS. For centuries people have been involved in show business (making their living by performing, writing or creating). Even Mozart himself made his living in show business. People who have made the decision to be in this business should not be labeled as sell outs or have their integrity questioned for making a sound and wise business decisions.

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For me, my music is an expression of who I am. I think it's the same for most musicians, with the exception of pop stars, who are conceived as products to begin with.

To reduce music to an advertising jingle cheapens it. It's like saying, "my music is so unimportant to me that I'm going to use it to sell Coca-Cola." And I find that repulsive.

When your song is used in a commercial, you're endorsing the product -- after all, it's your music playing in the commercial. It's a strike at integrity because it's fake. After all, does Britney Spears really prefer Pepsi? Something tells me she'd be a Coke fan if Coca-Cola had hired her instead.

I don't see the difference between providing music and appearing in a commercial. Either way, you're still helping the company sell stuff.

If you figured out that the song was "fitting," don't you think they did too? They didn't just hear the song and blindly say, "hey, cool song, let's put in a commercial." They did focus groups, they studied the psychological effects the song has on people, etc. Advertisers long ago realized the value of perceived "working against the product" (for lack of better words). If they can make you think you're one of the chosen few in on the joke, you're a lot more likely to pay attention. And in today's advertising-glutted world, attention is everything.

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I watch tv about two or three times a year, so I'm fortunate to miss out on most of these commercials. I've recognized a song in a commercial only once. It was "Solitaire" by the Preston School Of Industry in some beer commercial. That immediately ruined the song for me -- whatever emotional resonance it once had with me was lost, and I could only think about how it had been used to sell beer.

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BTW, this website (http://www.songtitle.info/) has a pretty complete list of which songs are used in which commercials.

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Me thinks you have too many hang-ups and should learn to enjoy the music you like no matter where or why you hear it. A song is a song no matter if it is on the radio, in a commercial, in a movie or in you cd player. If you enjoy it....enjoy it. Don't put limitations on it.

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some ppl would call it an art first...but i guess not many...

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i thought it was fucking hilarious when Target had Devo's "Beautfiul World" in a commercial...

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no problem at all...i know it's a bit time sensitive...as infrequent as our practicing can be, we'll always have to time do it later...(not a philosophy for most occasions, but when an emergency comes up...of course...) right now i just got out of class and have to be at work in less than an hour...if you get this message give me a call at some point tonight...

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the one where this guy and girl are all urban cowboy-lookin' and they're walking down the street when a herd of buffalo come out of this tunnel or whatever and they turn around and stand still while the buffalo run around them...[shudder]

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i saw Preston School of Industry open for Television in 2000...i had high hopes...then the band crushed them all w/ their full-on assault of blandness...

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i don't necessarily see background music as a strike against integrity...i don't see it as endorsing a product...Mogwai didn't write the song hoping it'd end up in some jeans commercial years later...it wasn't written to sell jeans...just some ad exec thought it'd work for some reason or another, threw it in the commercial, Mogwai got a little money out of the deal...i don't even see the issue of integrity really crossing into the picture...they're seperate entities...i do consider selling out to be a big deal...i do value artistic integrity above all else...but i don't think it applies here...sure, it's possible Mogwai could let it go to their heads and from now on try to make music they think would fit into commercials or something like that...but anything like that is left to Mogwai and the future...it's not directly related to one song ending up in one commercial...and really, they could use/deserve some money...

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Please see other my other entries....thank you.

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Yeah, they pretty much blow. The Malkmus solo stuff isn't much better.

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i still haven't heard any of his solo stuff...from what i heard of it, i'm not in any big hurry either...though it seems like it'd be better than PSoI...continuing on in the direction Pavement was headed...which wasn't a good direction for them, but at least none of their albums were bad...(at worst [Terror Twilight] they were still pretty good to good...)

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His solo stuff sounds a lot like Terror Twilight; the song "Major Leagues" more than anything. Imagine if you will: Indie Rock, Top 40 alterna-blandness, classic rock, and believe it or not, wanky guitar solos. Now throw it in a pot, overproduce it to the point of sterile perfection, and stir.

That's not to say that there aren't amazing moments on his debut and his forthcoming Pig Lib. It's just to say that there aren't many. It's worth a download.

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yea, that paints the picture i've had of it...

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